Tag Archives: classical education

Memoria Press Classical Composition Review

Leave a reply

If you need a Composition course for your homeschool students, then you might want to check out the Classical Composition I: Fables Set and Classical Compostion II: Narrative Set from Memoria Press.

Memoria Press is a curriculum publishing company that focuses on the Classical Education method with a Christian worldview.

Classical Composition

Memoria Press has published 9 courses in Classical Composition.  You can begin these courses as early as 4th grade and use them all the way through 12th grade if desired, or start when it best fits into your student’s homeschooling journey.

  • Fable
  • Narrative
  • Chreia/Maxim
  • Refutation/Confirmation
  • Common Topic
  • Encomium/Invective/Comparison
  • Characterization
  • Description
  • Thesis & Law

These Classical Composition courses are unique and highly successful.  They were developed by Jim Selby, a teacher from Kansas.  He found that all of his students were able to master the skills of composition with this curriculum.  When his students take these Classical Composition courses, they have “a 100% qualification rate on the optional essay portion of the college entrance exams (ACT and SAT) versus the national average of 23%” and many have “gained college credits with successful completion of the English AP exams.”  That is quite a record of achievement!

Classical Composition I: Fable Set

Student Book

Spiral Bound-Paper Back

101 pages

20 Lessons

Teacher Guide

Spiral Bound-Paper Back

Lesson Plans

Answer Key

101 Pages

Instructional DVDs 

4 DVD’s covering 20 Lessons

Retails for $85

Classical Composition I: Fables is the first course in the Classical Composition series.  Composition is learning how to write well.  The premise is that as students learn about writing and begin to understand and imitate good writers, they will master the techniques of composition and become good writers themselves.

Classical Composition 1: Fables uses short fables to teach students to become good writers.  A fable is a short story that uses animals for characters, has humor, and has a deeper message, a common truth that is wise to learn.  This common truth is called a “common place” because it can apply to everyone.

In each lesson, students will read a fable, become familiar with the contents of the fable as they study the various words and learn the meanings and synomyms of those words, make an outline of the main parts of the fable, narrate the fable from memory, the rewrite the fable with variations or paraphrases using synonyms for the key words while still maintaining the overall meaning of the deeper message.

Course Contents:

Teaching Guidelines
Introduction to the Fable Stage
Definition of Terms

Lessons:
Lesson 1 – The Ant and the Chrysalis
Lesson 2 – The Ant and the Grasshopper
Lesson 3 – The Fox and the Grapes
Lesson 4 – The Hare and the Tortoise
Lesson 5 – The Fisherman Piping
Lesson 6 – The Flies and the Honey-Pot
Lesson 7 – The Bear and the Two Travelers
Lesson 8 – The Dove and the Ant
Lesson 9 – The Thirsty Pigeon
Lesson 10 – The Dog and the Shadow
Lesson 11 – The Dog in the Manger
Lesson 12 – The Mountain in Labor
Lesson 13 – The Sick Lion
Lesson 14 – The Ass and the Lapdog
Lesson 15 – The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing
Lesson 16 – The Ass and the Mule
Lesson 17 – The Frogs Asking for a King
Lesson 18 – The Mischievous Dog
Lesson 19 – The Old Woman & the Physician
Lesson 20 – The Fighting Cocks & the Eagle

Appendix:
Figures of Description With Examples
Introduction to the Progymnasmata by James A. Selby

The complete set includes the Student Book, Teacher Guide and a set of 4 DVDs.  These items can be purchased separately or as a set.  You will save money buying them together as a set.

The Student Book has the fable, plus room on 4 worksheets to complete each written exercise.

Student Book sample:

The Teacher Guide has the student’s worksheet, additional lesson helps such as vocabulary definitions and lesson structure (not a daily schedule plan), and the answers to the corresponding student worksheet included all on one page.  It also has additional teaching tips scattered throughout, a grading rubric, and plenty of room to write extra notes if needed.

Teacher Guide sample:

The DVDs brings the fable to life with an audio visual component rather than just reading from the Student Book.  The DVD set contains a set of 4 DVDs and each one contains 5 lessons from the Student Book and covers all 20 lessons of the course.  Be sure to click the link below to see and hear a sample of Lesson 1 and how the instructor presents the fable and explains the tasks to be completed.

DVD Video Sample:

Classical Composition I: Fable DVD Sample from Lesson 1 on Vimeo.

Grading:

Course grades are based on:

  • Handwriting
  • Mechanics (spelling, punctuation, grammar)
  • Content (storyline)
  • Vocabulary/Diction (word choice)
  • Figures of Description

Classical Composition II: Narrative Set

Student Book

Spiral Bound-Paper Back

156 Pages

20 Lessons

Teacher Guide

Spiral Bound-Paper Back

156 Pages

Instructional DVDs 

Retails for $85

This is the second course in the Classical Composition courses.  Classical Composition II: Narrative Set uses narratives to teach students to become good writers.  Each lesson in the Student Book begins by reading aloud a narrative.  The narrative may contain a few difficult words, and the Teacher’s Guide contains lists with definitions to go over with the student.  Through a process of writing an outline, and writing 2 rough drafts of paraphrasing and a final draft, the students will narrate the narrative in their own words to master the writing skills in this Composition course.

Course Contents:

Teaching Guidelines
Definition of Terms
Introduction to the Narrative Stage

Lessons:
Lesson 1 – The Rose
Lesson 2 – Chico and the Crane
Lesson 3 – Elijah and the Widow
Lesson 4 – Giufà—Eat, My Clothes!
Lesson 5 – The Song of the Vineyard
Lesson 6 – Giufà and the Judge
Lesson 7 – Elijah and the Prophets of Baal
Lesson 8 – Elijah and the Burning Sacrifice
Lesson 9 – Nathan and David
Lesson 10 -The Frog Prince
Lesson 11- Elisha and the Widow’s Jars
Lesson 12 – Conrad Von Tannenberg
Lesson 13 – Latona and the Rustics
Lesson 14 – A Vine Out of Egypt
Lesson 15 – The Sower
Lesson 16 – The Good Samaritan
Lesson 17 – Baucis and Philemon
Lesson 18 – The Foolish Rich Man
Lesson 19 – The King and Two Servants
Lesson 20 – The Pen and the Inkstand

Appendix:
Figures of Description With Examples
Figures of Speech With Examples

The Classical Composition II: Narrative Set includes a Student Book, Teacher Guide, and a set of 4 DVDs.  These items can be purchased separately or as a set.  However, you will save money when you buy these together as a complete set.

The Student Book has the narrative story, plus room on 6 worksheets to complete each written exercise.

Student Book sample:

Each page of the Teacher Guide has the student’s corresponding lesson page in a subset, lesson vocabulary and definitions, lesson structure (but not a daily lesson plan schedule), and the answer key included all on one page.  Some pages within the book also contain teaching tips.  The Teacher’s Guide also contains a grading Rubric, examples of figures of description, examples of figures of speech, and room to write extra notes too.

Teacher Guide sample:

The Classical Composition II: Narrative Set has a set of 4 DVD’s.  Each DVD contains 5 lessons from the Student Book covering all 20 lessons.  The addition of the DVD to this course brings the Narrative story to life with an audio visual component rather than just reading from the Student Book.  Be sure to click the link below to hear the Narrative sample from Lesson 3 and see and hear how the instructor explains the narrative composition tasks to be completed.

DVD Video sample:

Classical Composition II: Narrative Sample DVD from Lesson 3 on Vimeo.

Grading:

Course grades are based on:

  • Handwriting
  • Mechanics (spelling, punctuation, grammar)
  • Content (storyline)
  • Vocabulary/Diction (word choice)
  • Amplification (figures of description, inverting in draft, etc)

Our Experience:

We were glad to receive Classical Composition I: Fables Set and Classical Compostion II: Narrative Set for the purpose of this review.  The arrival of this course was perfect timing for my son’s English Composition course work.  These courses count for a full credit on his highschool transcript.

We have loved the Classical Education products Memoria Press has sent us to review in our homeschool.  Memoria Press has many wonderful curriculum products that can be used by homeschool families who use a variety of homeschool education methods (Classical, Traditional, Eclectic, Charlotte Mason, etc).  Classical Composition is one of those great versatile products.

My son is doing an accelerated plan to get both of these Classical Composition courses done in his final year of highschool. That means working daily on Composition instead of spacing it out a few days a week.  He has to be laser focused to work on it each day.  Hopefully at the accelerated pace, he will accomplish each Composition course in about 18 weeks. These courses are flexible and can also be stretched out for a whole school year if you don’t need the accelerated pace.   He needs to finish two courses, and perhaps even a third course, before he graduates.  So this accelerated plan is a better option for him.  Memoria Press also sent us their Classical Composition Accelerated I Lesson Plan (9 pages) for him to follow so he can complete both of these courses together in 1 year.

Though he is a strong reader, with excellent comprehension, he is not a strong essay writer.  He really has had no desire to write stories or essays, until recently.  However, this course has motivated him to want to write.

He starts each lesson out by reviewing the short lesson on video and reading it in the student book.  Then he completes the activities in the student book through out the week.  There are approximately 4 pages of activities to a lesson in Fables and 6 pages of activities to a lesson in Narrative (he has not begun the Narrative lessons yet).

The course instructor on the DVDs is Dr. Brett Vaden.  He is very easy to understand and my son and I enjoy the sound of his voice and his explanations.  Having these DVDs made a huge difference in my son’s motivation level to do the writing exercises.  Though you could do the course with only the student book and teacher guide, I would encourage everyone to get this course as a set with the DVDs because they really do enrich the learning experience.

Though Memoria Press recommends students start learning Composition as early as possible (as early as 4th grade to get through all 9 levels of their courses), the everyday reality is that most students focus on Composition as a structured course during their highschool years.  Given the research and success record of Memoria Press curriculum, it is obvious that the sooner you begin these courses, the more opportunity and more time you will have to master all the skill levels.

Memoria Press

In addition to their publishing company, Memoria Press also own a private Christian school called Highlands Latin School in Louisville Kentucky that uses their award winning curriculum.  They have scored in the top 1% of schools in the country for 9 years in a row.  The quality of the Memoria Press curriculum is top notch.  Using this curriculum, their students score an average of 3 grades above their grade level.

Memoria Press curriculum products are available to the public and are well loved by many in the homeschool community.

They have every grade level available in both a complete subject grade package format and also as individual subject products.  So you can choose what best fits your homeschool student’s needs, and search for products by subject area or by grade.

Special Offers

You can save $50 when you buy ANY TWO Classic Composition Sets (Student Book, Teacher Guide, DVDs)!  Be sure to use the coupon code CCSET at checkout.

Social Media

Keep in touch with Memoria Press through their social media links for all the latest news, special offers, and product updates:

Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Instagram
Google+
YouTube

Homeschool Review Crew

Memoria Press recently sent a variety of products to The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Review Crew:

New American Cursive 1
New American Cursive 2 (Scripture)
New American Cursive 2 (Famous Americans)
New American Cursive 3 (Famous Quotes)

Traditional Logic I Complete Set
Traditional Logic II Complete Set

Classical Composition I: Fable Set
Classical Composition II: Narrative Set

Be sure to check out what others on the Homeschool Review Crew had to say about using products from Memoria Press in their home.

Please share.

Latina Christiana Review

Leave a reply

We are getting our curriculum for next fall ready, and took the opportunity to review Latina Christiana 1 Complete Set from Memoria Press.

Memoria Press

We are preparing classes and goals for my soon to be highschooler.  He studied Greek and Roman History and an introduction to the Greek Language this year.   As we set goals for his upcoming school year, we wanted to see if this introductory course to Latin might be a good fit for his Foreign Language requirement.

Three main reasons to Study Latin:

  • Helps kids master the English language.
  • Improves test scores.
  • Kids who study Latin score higher on SAT test than the average student.
  • Encourages mental discipline.
  • Encourages cultural understanding of the Greeks, Rome, and the Christian faith.

Latina Christiana

Latina Christiana 1 Complete Set

A beginning Latin Course
For students of all ages
Grade 3 and Above
Retails for $98.90

This Latin course is recommended if your student is:

  • In at least Grade 3 or higher, even if your child is in Highschool 12th Grade,
  • If they have had no prior experience learning the Latin Language.
  • It is also recommended for teachers who have no prior experience teaching Latin.

What We Received

With this program we received the complete set which includes:

Student Workbook:

  • 25 Lessons plus 5 Review Lessons.
  • Includes 10 vocabulary words, maps, song lyrics and exercises to go along with each lesson.
  • Sayings that teach Christian

Flashcards:

  • Includes card stock printed vocabulary cards with Latin and English to go along with each lesson.

Pronunciation CD:

  • Complete pronunciation of words in each lesson.
  • Also has performances of songs and prayers.

Instructional DVDs:

  • Includes 5 disks (18 hours of lessons)
  • Each disk contains  45+/-minute video instruction for each week’s lesson.
  • Comprehensive instruction
  • Grammar, Recitation, Review
  • Onscreen notes, illustrations, and diagrams
  • Self teaching format.  Complete virtual instruction so that motivated students can do this program independent of having a live teacher in the room.

Teacher Manual:

  • Notes on how to teach the lessons, incorporate the videos, cds, and flash cards.
  • Maps
  • History
  • Song lyrics
  • Copies of the student workbook pages with answer keys.
  • Recitation schedule.
  • Teaching tips for each lesson.
  • Questions for the optional history.
  • Reproducible drill practice pages.
  • Lesson quizzes
  • Review Tests that cover each set of five lessons.

Several supplemental materials are also available for additional purchase including Latin Work Wall Charts ($20), a Certificate of Completion ($.50), and National Exam Guides (3 guides: Introduction, Level 1, and Level 2 (prices vary)), Review Worksheets ($9.95), and additional Student Workbooks ($16).

How We Used This In Our Home

We received the Latina Christiana 1 Complete Set for the purpose of writing an honest review. This material covers 25 lessons, and each lesson is designed to be studied for 5 days or 1 week. For most students this course will provide a whole school year of Foreign language learning. An older student could complete this course in 1 semester if highly motivated and moved at a fast pace.

Latina Christiana by Memoria Press

We finished up our 2014-2015 school year several weeks ago, but jumped on this opportunity to review Latina Christiana 1 when it was offered through The Old Schoolhouse for review.  My son wants to study foreign languages, and started to really apply himself this past year in Spanish 1 and also learning Greek Morphemes.

Maps

He took an awesome online class this school year on the History of the Greek and Roman Empire and New Testament Church History.  He loved it!  He let me know he wanted to learn even more about this period in history and learn to speak Greek and Latin.  This Latin Language course seemed like a good way to introduce him to the language and give him even more experience with learning about the early church.

IMG_7306

He is very smart, but I never in my wildest dreams thought my kids would want to learn how to read languages like Greek and Latin, or learn about early New Testament History.  Not many 8th grade boys think like that!  But he is fascinated with the formation of the Christian church, and comparing how different it is today.  If it is this fascinating to an 8th grader, perhaps everyone in modern day church could learn something from reviewing early church and the Greek and Roman culture in the beginning of it’s formation.   Thank God for the opportunity to write reviews with TOS, because they have provided our family with all of these opportunities to review and learn each of these classes my son has been interested in this year.

IMG_7313

When the material first arrived, we went through the materials together.  We read through and practiced pronouncing some of the letter combinations that would be used in the course.  These are found right in the beginning of both the Student Workbook and the Teachers Manual.   After this initial introduction, and he became more familiar with the materials, he took off like a rocket and my son has mostly worked on this class independently so far.   He always gets to it before I am ready since I have six kids to help.  He does most of his studies independently at this point.  But I hope to get him to slow down a bit and be able to get his brothers in on the fun too this fall.  Honestly I want to learn this too, as I believe I can understand the scriptures even more by learning this language.  I don’t want to be left out and this is my opportunity to learn it right along with the kids.

IMG_7318

Each day my son sits down to the video instruction from the DVD.   She does a very good job explaining things in simple easy to understand instructions.  He has the opportunity to pause the DVD and practice what he is learning and then move forward.  Next he listens to the pronunciations on the CD and uses his flash cards.  Then he completes the related assignment in his Student Workbook.

IMG_7321

He is a very motivated self learner.  He can search out any info on the internet and apply it before my head even grasps what button to push on my keyboard.  So in true fashion to his character, he took the lead on learning this material on his own.  He is thrilled with it, and finds it easy to navigate.  Our toughest challenge has been pronunciation of some of the words is different than they are written.  Some words sound the same as they are written.  So going back and forth and understanding when to use a different sound for the same letters has been the biggest challenge for him to wrap his brain around.

My son found this beginning Latin course challenging, and we are both excited for him to resume learning with it when our new school year 2015-2016 begins this fall.  I plan to purchase the wall charts and certificates and the additional student workbooks for the next two sons right behind him, and one for mom (and maybe Dad) too.  I hope to motivate all three of the older boys to learn this material together during our coming school year.   This class is definitely on our list of curriculum for this coming year.

I would encourage you to consider introducing your students to Latin.  I did not have this learning opportunity growing up and was a bit scared of it at first.   But once we got into the materials, I am excited my kids have this wonderful curriculum resource.

These course materials could be used in a variety of class settings and great for homeschoolers, coop classes, private schools, after school learning, and even bible study enrichment.  This is such a valuable resource and teaching tool so why not use it for Sunday School church classes too.  Think of the fun you will have to offer your students (young or old) a certificate of completion when they have finished! I am looking forward to both my kids and myself earning our certificates too!!

Social Media:

Be sure to check out Memorial Press on their social media for all the latest news and updates.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/memoriapress
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MemoriaPress
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/memoriapress/
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+Memoriapress1/posts
Instagram: https://instagram.com/memoriapress/

Memoria Press Review

Be sure to check out what others on the Schoolhouse Review Crew had to say about using curriculum products from Memorial Press.

Crew Disclaimer

Please share.